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Ron Simmons, Ph.D. was born on March 2, 1950. He is an educator, administrator, and photographer as well as an activist. Before retiring in 2016, Simmons served for 24 years as the president and chief executive officer of Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. (UHU), one of the largest Black gay AIDS organizations in the United States. Isaiah Ronald Simmons was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isaiah, a garment worker, and Duella, who was a factory worker. He grew up in the Van Dyke housing […]

Raymond St. Jacques was born on March 1, 1930 (to August 27, 1990). He was a popular American actor and leading man in movies. St. Jacques was the first Black actor to appear in a regular role on a western series, playing Simon Blake on the series “Rawhide.” Born James Arthur Johnson in Hartford, Connecticut, he was the son of Vivienne Johnson, who was a medical technician. Raymond St. Jacques and his younger sister, Barbara, were raised in Depression-era New […]

Dane Joseph was born on March 1, 1984. He is an award-winning writer and producer. Dane Joseph is the son of Janice Harbin, a dentist, and Wayne Joseph, an orthodontist, of Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 2002, and went on to pursue his Bachelor of Arts degree at Seton Hall University. Joseph followed up by earning his Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 2010, having earned a Seton Scholar Scholarship and graduating magna cum laude (with the Economics Honors […]

E. Patrick Johnson, PhD. was born on March 1, 1967. He is an important writer, researcher, scholar, activist, performance artist, and ethnographer. As a highly respected author and performance artist, Johnson has performed nationally and internationally, and has been published widely in the areas of race, gender, sexuality, and performance. E. Patrick Johnson is the youngest of seven children born in Hickory, North Carolina to Sarah M. Johnson, a factory worker and domestic who made education a high priority in her children’s lives. He attended Highland Elementary and […]

Willi Smith was born on February 29, 1948 (to April 17, 1987). He was one of the most influential and successful African American designers in fashion history. Known for his spirited and trendy clothes, his company, WilliWear Ltd., sold more than $25 million worth of clothing a year. Willi Donnell Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Willie Lee Smith, an ironworker, and June Eileen Smith, a homemaker. The seeds for Smith’s later successes were planted during his youth by […]

Claudia Alick was born on February 29. She is a poet, performer, producer, and intersectional inclusion expert. Claudia Alick was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Claude Alick, a writer, and Eleanor Williams. Her brothers and sisters are Anzie Gilmore, Julian Rice, Maia Mills-Lowe, Jesse Alick, and Makenna Alick. Alick attended Hellgate High School in Missoula, Montana, where she founded its first Black Student Union, worked with the developmentally disabled, and founded The Starving Artists Theater Company before graduating in 1994. “Growing up in Missoula, Montana was […]

Angelina Weld Grimké was born on February 27, 1880 (to June 10, 1958). She was a celebrated poet, playwright, essayist, short fiction author, journalist, and teacher who was an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance, and one of the first African American women to see her play performed to audiences. Angelina Weld Grimké was born into an unusual and distinguished biracial family in Boston, Massachusetts. Her mother, Sarah Stanley, was from a Midwestern middle-class family, about whom little information is […]

Sherry D. Harris was born on February 27, 1965. She is a groundbreaking former Seattle public official, engineer, scholar, writer, philosopher, teacher, and interpersonal relations consultant. Sherry D. Harris was born in one of Newark, New Jersey’s toughest neighborhoods, and is the daughter of Dorothy Harris, who was a loving single mom. She was an only child, and vividly recounts the 1967 riots that destroyed much of her neighborhood. Harris’ mother, Dorothy Harris, became her daughter’s role model with her […]

Bryan E. Glover was born on February 26, 1968. He is a leadership and life coach, spiritual activist, award-winning arts producer, writer, and filmmaker. Bryan E. Glover was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the only child of Emanuel Glover, who was a postal worker and Korean War veteran, and Iris Davis Glover, a former legal secretary and current independent businesswoman. When he was six, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he later attended Daniel Murphy Catholic High School, graduating in 1986. Following high school, he enrolled at […]

Dr. Elizabeth Hadley was born on February 26, 1950 (to October 14, 2007). She was a beloved professor, researcher, theater director, advocate, and author. Dr. Elizabeth Amelia Hadley was born in Harlem, and grew up in a foster home there in the 1950s and ’60s. She entered the foster care system at such a young age that she reportedly remembered little about her birth family. Elizabeth Hadley graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester […]

Michael Henry Adams was born on February 25, 1956. He is an architectural, social, and cultural historian, as well as a preservation activist known primarily for his passionate work in Harlem. Michael Henry Adams was born in Akron, Ohio, the son of Alexander Leroy Adams, Jr. and Willie Dean Hollinger Adams. His athletic father, who’d been a sports all-star from elementary school through college, first became a high school American history teacher and basketball coach. He then taught history and […]

Rodney Evans was born on February 24, 1971. He is a celebrated director, producer, editor, cinematographer, and screenwriter. Rodney Evans was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Jamaica, Queens. After graduating from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan in 1989, he enrolled at Brown University, where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Modern Culture and Media/Film Production. Evans furthered his education in the graduate program at The California Institute of the Arts, and received a Master […]

Donald Agarrat was born on February 22, 1970 (to September 14, 2013). He was a popular Harlem photographer, afrofuturist, technologist, artist, beloved activist, website designer, entrepreneur, musician, and deejay. Donald Andrew Agarrat was born in Hollis, Queens, the son of Delores and Henry Agarrat. He attended various schools and graduated from the talented and gifted program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School of Greenbelt, Maryland in 1988. Agarrat furthered his studies at the University of Maryland in College Park, and immersed […]

Isaac Julien CBE was born on February 21, 1960. He is a leading international installation artist, filmmaker and academic whose multi-screen film installations and photographs incorporate different artistic disciplines to create a poetic and unique visual language. Isaac Julien hails from London’s East End, one of five children born to parents who migrated to the United Kingdom from Saint Lucia. His mother was a nurse; his father worked as a welder. Julien attended local schools, and while in his teens, […]

Philip Reed was born on February 21, 1949 (to November 6, 2008). He was the first openly gay African American member of the New York City Council, and a passionate HIV/AIDS advocate. Philip Reed was born in New York City, the son of a Black father and a white mother. He and a twin sister were raised in an upper middle class Manhattan environment of prep schools and civil rights activism; Reed would become involved in the 1969 Stonewall […]

David J. Johns was born on February 21. He is an educator, community builder, and activist with unique federal policy experience, and a self-described son, brother, uncle, and friend. Since September 1, 2017, Johns has been the executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), a civil rights organization dedicated to ending racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ bias and stigma, and empowering Black LGBTQ people, including people living with HIV/AIDS. David J. Johns was born in Culver City, California, the […]

David J. Malebranche, MD, MPH was born on February 20, 1969. He is a highly respected author, Black/LGBTQ advocate, and HIV/AIDS behavioral researcher, exploring the social and structural factors influencing the sexual health of Black men in the United States. David J. Malebranche is the son of Roger Malebranche, originally of Anse-à-Veau, Haiti, and Donna Malebranche, who hails from upstate New York. David Malebranche was born in Schenectady, New York, and graduated from Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons High School in 1986 […]

Reverend E. Taylor Doctor was born on February 15, 1989. He is a same-gender loving ordained clergyman, writer, and a public health policy and administration professional. Rev. E. Taylor Doctor is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, born to Rev. Jerome Bennett, a retired pastor, state employee and adjunct professor, and Carla Pompey-Bennett, a senior consultant and owner of Carjer Strategic Solutions of Virginia. Rev. Doctor has five siblings, Arthur E. Doctor, Jr., Joelle Doctor-Nixon, Jerry M. Bennett, Kimberly S. […]

J Marshall Evans was born on February 15, 1975. He is a producer, playwright, dramatist, singer, music composer, teacher, community educator, advocate, and activist. J Marshall Evans was born in Marshall, Texas, and is the adopted son of Neddie Evans, who was a blue-collar worker and an entrepreneur, and Olivia Burks Evans, a homemaker; he has an older brother and baby sister. Evans was raised in Waco, Texas, where he faced challenges of deep racism, homophobia, and celebration of religiosity, […]

Guy Anthony was born on February 12, 1986. He is a self-proclaimed ARTivist, community leader, writer, and empath. Anthony is the founder and president/CEO of the Black, Gifted & Whole Foundation. Guy Anthony was born in Detroit, Michigan. Encouraged by his mother (Anthony calls her “Mama Bear”), he studied theater, oratory, and dance throughout grade school and at the Detroit High School for Fine Arts. Following graduation, Anthony attended Michigan State University and Bauder College in Atlanta, Georgia, and studied […]

James Credle was born on February 7, 1945. He is a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, and a beloved former dean of students at Rutgers University-Newark. Credle is also a proud community builder, and a longtime activist in the Vietnam Veterans and LGBTQ movements. James Warren Credle was born in Mesic, a very small town on the eastern shore of North Carolina, to Warren Credle, who worked with his hands as a part-time carpenter and laborer, and Carrie Mae Credle, a housekeeper, maid, and homemaker […]

Nayland Blake was born on February 5, 1960. He is a celebrated artist whose mixed-media work often reflects themes of masochism, his biracial heritage, and his pansexuality. Nayland Blake was born in New York City, the son of an African American father and an Irish-American mother at a time when such unions were outlawed in many parts of the United States. Both of his parents were artistically inclined, and his own early explorations in creating art were encouraged. Blake grew […]

Chas. Brack was born on February 5, 1960. He is an artivist, educator, filmmaker, performer, and LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist. Charles Bennett Brack was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son of David A. Brack, II, who was a unionized decorator, and his mother, Bertha Mae Brack, a homemaker. After his biological parents’ passing in the early 1970s, Brack was raised by his stepmother, Mattie Bea Brack. His two brothers, Gert Knox and David Brack, both passed away in 2016, and he has three step-siblings, Victor, Charles “Yapri,” and Carol Howell. Brack […]

Shelton Jackson was born on February 4, 1978 (to March 2, 2009). He was poet, author, HIV/AIDS educator and activist, inspiring LGBTQ advocate, and founder of a publishing firm. Shelton Samad Jackson was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of two drug addicted parents. He describes his father, the late Shelton Robert Williams, as a functioning addict who worked as a garbage man, and his mother, Lyndale Jackson, as a drug addict and an alcoholic who held sporadic jobs […]

Phillipe Cunningham was born in 1987. When elected to the Minneapolis City Council in November 2017, Cunningham became one of the first out trans men and the first out trans man of color elected to any public office in the United States. Phillipe Cunningham was born in predominately white Streator, Illinois, to an interracial couple. His father was a tractor builder, and his mother worked at a dry cleaning business. He attended Mills College in Oakland, California, and Southern Illinois […]

Marlon T. Riggs was born on February 3, 1957 (to April 5, 1994). He was a groundbreaking filmmaker, educator, poet, and gay rights activist, best known as the producer, writer, and director of several television documentaries, including “Ethnic Notions,” “Tongues Untied,” “Color Adjustment,” and “Black Is…Black Ain’t.” Marlon Troy Riggs was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Jean and Alvin Riggs, who were civilian employees of the military. He spent much of his childhood traveling, and lived in Texas and […]

Carlton Brown was born on February 2, 1959. He is a passionate entrepreneur, family man, chef, caterer, event host, and optimistic advocate, who loves life and always sees the glass as half full. Carlton Antonio Brown was born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, to Calvin Brown, who was a retired United States Marine Corp non-commissioned officer and a cook, and his mother, Hilda Brewer Brown, a retired home economics teacher in the North Carolina schools. Carlton’s identical twin brother was Calvin A. Brown, and he has a younger brother and […]

Mike Webb was born on February 1, 1987. Webb is a self-described progressive driven by community organizing and empowering our most vulnerable communities. Michael C. Webb, Jr. was raised in Houston, Texas, one of two children born to the late Michael C. Webb, Sr., and Ophelia Binkley-Webb, a professor. Mike Webb attended high school at Chinquapin Preparatory School in Highlands, Texas, and graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon with a degree in political science. At age 26, Webb became […]

Langston Hughes was born on February 1, 1902 (to May 22, 1967). He was a celebrated poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the literary art form often called “jazz poetry,” and is best known for both his writing and his leadership during the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes famously wrote about that period when “Harlem was in vogue.” James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri to Caroline Mercer Langston and James […]

Venton C. Hill-Jones was born on January 31, 1984. He is a community organizer, non-profit administrator, and a respected specialist in public health communications committed to advancing civil rights, equality, and social justice for the African American and LGBTQ communities. Venton Carlos Hill-Jones was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Venton Carlos Jones and Stephanie Miller. He has three siblings, LaTrice Jones, Ladonna Jones, and Erica Jones. Hill-Jones attended Lancaster High School, where he graduated in 2002. While in school, he […]